Trains have always been a part of life for residents in the Robson Valley. Now, a passenger train passing through what appears to be Jasper and Mount Robson parks is the image on the back of the new $10 bill.
Via Rail and the Rocky Mountaineer trains pass through Valemount and McBride to or from Jasper several times a week, shuttling passengers from around the world to see the famous Canadian Rocky Mountains.
We were not able to confirm with the Bank of Canada which mountains are depicted. A Jasper-based train engineer said it appears to be a composite. The ones in the middle of the bill are possibly Gargoyle or Chetymon mountains. The one on the left looks like part of Marmot Mountain.
The ten dollar bill and the five dollar bill will be released in November. Both bills follow a similar theme of the frontier.
The new polymer bills, much like the old paper ones, represent different aspects of what makes Canada, Canada. All the depictions on the backs of the bills show important milestones in Canada’s history.
On the new $100 bill, the discovery of insulin is depicted. This was an incredibly important discovery in the world of medicine and it was made by Canadian Frederick Banting in 1921. His discovery changed the world of medicine and has saved millions of lives. Canada proudly remembers him as a revolutionary scientist in the field of medicine and as a true Canadian.
On the new $50 bill is a depiction of a coast guard ship in the arctic. The government has put a significant amount of focus on arctic sovereignty. Canadian scientists have also worked together with Inuit people to find solutions to problems related to climate change.
The new $20 bill recognizes and remembers the sacrifices made by all Canadian soldiers in World War One. It depicts the Vimy Ridge War memorial. The Vimy Ridge memorial was chosen for multiple reasons. One, to remember those who lost their lives fighting for Canada and our allies in World War One; and two, Vimy Ridge was the first moment in history that Canada truly showed up as a nation on the international scale. These factors made the monument a perfect representation — you could even say, it fit the bill.
On the $10 bill, a train making a long trek through the Canadian Rockies is shown on the back. For a long time before a railway linked the two coasts of the country, the area of the Rockies and its beauty was largely undiscovered. All this changed when the railway was built allowing easy travel throughout Canada. This advancement in technology was one of the defining moments in Canada’s history and needs to be remembered. This bill is especially significant to residents in the Valley as the bill depicts the train passing through the Rocky Mountains in a scene that looks a lot like home. The beauty of where we live is now being recognized on a national scale.
Finally, the $5 bill. The back of the bill depicts Canadarm2 and Dextre, the two robots that helped build the international space station. Canada has made significant progress in the field of science when it comes to space exploration. Lots of work involving the space station has been done by Canadians and space exploration science is very important to our government.
Every bill represents a different aspect of what makes us Canadian. Patriotism, pride, and wonder are some of the feelings that the images depicted on the back of the bills evoke in us. We will get used to the new images, and soon they will just be “another $5 bill” but they will always have that same significance, and hopefully, this feeling of Canadian pride will continue on for generations to come.
By: John Kenkel, RMG Student Reporter
